Withered Flowers
by Amako-sama
Summary: "Itachi told me he's thinking about retiring. He was crying and scared out of his mind that I would kill him on the spot. Or worse, disown him. And all I could think of was how four years ago, he was braiding pink ribbons in Shisui's hair while singing The Lusty Kunoichi Said To Me."
1. 1: Notre monde est cruel

Title is from "Blumenkranz", Ragyo Kiryuin's theme in Kill la Kill.

I blame **Blackkat** for the rare ship. That's all I have to say on the matter.

I'm so far from being an English speaker it's not even funny, so please forgive the mistakes and kindly point them out if you can!

* * *

There is a shiny new grave in the Hyūga Clan's graveyard and a hole the size of his brother in Hiashi's soul. He feels sick. The bottle of cheap sake might have something to do with that. It's still better than the other alternative.

He doesn't remember much of the ceremony, but some details burn a blazing light in his mind. Like Hinata's quiet breath, because she's alive and well and far, far away from Kumo's treacherous hands. Or Neji's back, a straight line of stubbornness amongst the sea of hunched shoulders.

Or the fact that they didn't have a body to burn and no ashes to bury under Hyūga Hizashi's name.

Tsume and Shibi left a couple of hours ago, silent and supportive shadows best ignored when there is something so much darker surrounding him. He hadn't longed that much for Sakumo in a long time. Their teacher didn't have many faults, and unreliable hadn't been one of them. That's a shoulder he'd have liked to lean on.

Hiashi can count the number of friends he has left on one hand. His twin had always been one of them. Not anymore, and the thought alone is enough to envy Tsunade's resiliance in emptying every sake bottle Konoha has to offer. But that's not something he can indulge in right now, however tempting drinking another cup might be.

The perks of being Clan Head, right?

He hates the silence in the graveyard, the cold stones and polished kanji spelling his brother's name for the gods to see. So he leaves.

He can feel Neji's eyes trailing him as he escapes the compound. He sees Hizashi in the kid, in the almond eyes and flowing hair. But it's Hizashi's death that he sees in the bandages covering the little forehead, hiding in plain sight the very reason for the crushing loss he feels.

What a mess.

.

Fugaku is a hurricane of emotions when the Council's session is ajourned. The report on the incident is a day old but he can feel Konoha shaking from its impact. There isn't much the head of the Konoha Military Police Force can do right now.

What's eating him is what he shoud have done _before_.

How could Kumo get away with kidnapping the Hyūga heir, then ask for the Clan Head's body in exchange and actually _get it_? It doesn't matter that it worked out in the end, because it's still a failure and it makes Fugaju sick. He wishes for a cup of sake. Anything to make him forget the haunted look on Hizashi's kid's face and the faint tremor in his hands.

As the Uchiha Clan Head, he had had been to the ceremony. That's when his sharingan had the good idea to carve in his memory how unkempt Hyūga looked. Hyūga Hiashi, _unkempt_.

That's the most terrifying thing he's seen since the Kyūbi, and that's saying something.

It's a furious, guilty and overall extremely shaken Fugaku who finds Itachi in the middle of a panic attack, hidden behind a flower pot in their backyard.

Anxiety is an old friend of his, and so are the panic attacks. He's delt with them for longer than he can remember. Getting his son to breath normally is nothing.

Talking to him about it, however, may prove more challenging than he thought.

"I'm fine, father. I apologize for my behaviour."

"What was this about, son?" And he doesn't want to sound so harsh, but the day left him feeling raw, his soul bared for the world to see. He doesn't miss the shaking coming back or how Itachi's breathing quickens. He sighs, feeling lost about what to say. Uchiha Fugaku, rendered speechless by his son's need of him actually acting like a father.

What a mess.

.

The night finds them in the same civilian bar, a few minutes past midnight. There's no question asked, not when two of the most important men in the village come for a drink. That they're sitting at the same table but minutely not looking at each other might actually be a bigger factor. Not that anyone would dare point that out.

Hiashi pours himself another cup, considers Fugaku's for a moment before filling it up as well. They both empty it in a blink before resuming their quiet examination of the room.

"Itachi told me he's thinking about retiring. He was crying and scared out of his mind that I would kill him on the spot. Or worse, disown him. And all I could think of was how four years ago, he was braiding pink ribbons in Shisui's hair while singing _The Lusty Kunoichi Said To Me_."

Hiashi's sharp eyes are on him in an instant. He stays quiet, but his gaze doesn't leave Fugaku's face.

"I told him he was technically an adult and responsible for his own choices. Then I made a very dignified retreat and decided to find someone even more miserable than I am."

"You're really going to let Itachi quit?" Hiashi's voice is a very special brand of rough, deepened by sorrow and bad alcohol. Fugaku raises his head and locks eyes with the ceiling. That's a nice shade of brown. The sake smell strengthen as Hiashi refills both cups.

"I saw my child break under the pressure I put onto him. I watched as he cried and shook because I treated him like a soldier in a war I know we're going to win. He's eight, Hyūga. He needs a father, not a commander."

"Why the change of heart? You were perfectly content with being his commander, last I checked."

"Today, a child lost his father because the man saw himself as a soldier in a war we're going to win. And I have my eyes on another father who's bordering on turning into the same thing."

Hiashi doesn't answer but drinks his cup, pours himself another one and orders a second bottle. The shadow in his white eyes has settled into something fierce, unyielding. Fugaku licks his lips and empties his cup.

.

When Hiashi wakes up, his bed is empty but the other side is rumpled and there's a note on the pillow. He doesn't read it but slips it in his pocket as soon as he finishes tying up his yukata. As he leaves his bedroom, he calls for the housemaid and asks her to bring Hinata and Neji. There's a guard hiding in the shadows which he sends away with a message for the elders.

He eats breakfast with the two children, in a silence he finally breaks as they are left with nothing but tea.

"Neji, as of right now, you're a member of this family and second heir to the Hyūga Clan. You will move in this house this week, and I will make arrangments for your things to be brought here. Will you be needing anything else that you lacked in your previous house?"

There is no mistaking the look on the child's face as he processes the announcement. This is confusion, hearbreak and anger, all at the same time.

"I am Hinata-sama's shadow, I am not meant to leave my place at her side," he replies in a very, very careful voice.

"Not anymore. Actually, you're not a Branch House member anymore either, since the Branch House has ceased to exist."

"What?"

"Congratulation on being the first one to hear about this. I'm fusing the two houses together and I contacted Konoha Central about finding a way to break the Curse Seal."

There is a loud voice echoing in the hallway, many feet stomping off in their direction. The rice paper wall slides open and all hell breaks loose.

"Hiashi! What is the meaning of this?"

"Jiman told me you're going to disolve the houses system!"

"Kiyoi, move aside, I'd like to try and punch the stupid out of our Clan Head."

In the sea of yelling people who bursted into his living room, there is an ANBU with a low ponytail of raven hair, the Jonin Commander looking like someone just dumped a dead body on his doorstep and the Head of the Military Police with a twitching left eyes. Or is he trying to _wink at him_? Neji still looks like he's been slapped and Hinata is grining and his tea is getting cold and Hiashi has never felt more alive.

What a mess, indeed.


	2. 2: Quand un homme part en guerre

His headache is a thousand times worse than the one after Tsume's bachelor party —as she had insisted it should be called—, and that's saying something. Who would have thought changing a decades-long system was this troublesome?

(that's a lie, of course. Troublesome is to kind a word to apply to the situation. In the hardest moments, he blames Fugaku and the bottles of sake for his poor decision making. The rest of the time, he knows better.)

The elders are insufferable, but that's to be expected from a bunch of old farts who firmly believe in a flawed system only advantaging them. That he once agreed with them is another jab to his pride as a shinobi and as a man but mostly as a father. He looks at Neji's little body and blank face and feels like screaming because _how_ could he support the houses system when his own brother died because of it?

The silent presences of Tsume and Shibi in the room are more comfort than he feels like he deserves. They are his closest friends, but they're also Clan Heads and their advice has been priceless those last few days. Hiashi knows very well he can't expect to change everything at once and he's bound to accept compromises with the elders. _Which_ compromises are the subject of most of his genin team's conversations lately.

Sakumo's loss is a wound that chose to woke up in the aftermath of his brother's sacrifice. Not only does he miss the smart advice his sensei used to give, but he had come to view the man as a dear friend. The war had been brewing for a long time and he and his team were on a mission at the border when Sakumo's own assignment went wrong. They hadn't heard about it until their return, and by then it was too late. Their sensei was gone and they were at war.

Looking back on it, Hiashi hates the civilians who dumped everything on Sakumo's head, hates the shinobi who didn't look _underneath the underneath_ , as the jōnin would have said. He watches thoughtfully as Tsume punches Shibi's shoulder lightly, the glint of humour in her eyes. The three of them are parents now, trying their best (oh, is he trying) and that makes him think of another child. One with silver hair and a mask hiding his face, with the eye of his best friend forced into his skull while said best friend died in front of him.

He misses the careful look on Shibi's face and the whispered words between his two friends. He's planning. Because if that works, if _he_ can make it work...

"Hyūga, I can see the smoke coming out your ears," Tsume says, smirking.

"Whatever you're thinking about, stop. I can smell the bad idea from here and I'm not the Inuzuka in this room," Shibi adds with a raised eyebrow.

"Both of you, shut up. We fucked up," he answers with a set jaw. He can't believe they didn't think about this before. This is another failure and doesn't it begin to be a lot? "Has any of you ever spoken to Kakashi?" he asks, already knowing the answer. The lost look on Shibi's face and the pain in Tsume's eyes are enough.

Anger is seething under his skin, mostly at himself and it's unnerving to know he can't really blame anyone but the three of them for this. Of course they had their duty to their respective clans, and now children, but that's not even close to being an excuse. They let their teacher's son grow up alone.

"Don't make plans for tonight, you're invited to supper. So are Hana, Kiba, Shino and Torune. Kakashi will hopefully be there. I'm also inviting Fugaku— okay, forget about it. I'm going to invite our entire promotion and that can't be done in a day. I expect you both to come Friday night, though."

"Hiashi, this is the worse idea you've had since deciding that Nikei would be an appropriate name for your daughter."

"Irrelevant. I was drunk at the time."

Unimpressed doesn't even begin to cover all that is expressed in Tsume's raised eyebrows. Hiashi sighs and decides to let it slides (he might deserve this one).

"Make yourselves useful and help me write down something polite but threatening enough that all of the Elite Konoha is going to show up," he groans, tucking a lock of his hair behind his ear.

* * *

Fugaku will deny to his grave that he spat his coffee on Sasuke's plush when he read the invitation to Hiashi's future battlefield-slash-slaughterhouse of a party. The last time the Elite Konoha had been together in one place was for Chōza's wedding and everyone knows how _that_ ended up. (Tap water had never tasted the same.)

Sasuke, being the good boy that he is (not), didn't immediately started to cry. Instead, he went to see Itachi, who kindly cleaned his toy and put him to bed before eyeing their father with the most disappointed look he had ever seen on the boy's face. Fugaku knows he's been literally glowing with pride ever since. (He also found a letter on his desk this morning asking for the job at the Uchiha daycare and he can't remember the last time he was this glad to sign a paper.)

He frowns, however, when he notices Mikoto's name on the invitation. No-one knows about their impending divorce, not even the Uchiha elders. They still live in the same house, still care about their children the same way—mostly, though, because Fugaku has been _trying_ — they just came to the mutual decision that having sex together never had much appeal to begin with, and that it just became worse now that they had heirs to appease the clan's mind.

And since their marriage was basically based on this only, then there wasn't a point to keep said-marriage going. They were much happier sharing a house and talking about their day without the pressure of going to the same bed wondering if tonight would be _one of those nights_. Keeping up the charade seemed like the most practical option at the time, but looking back on it, Fugaku wonders.

He's the Head of one of the most powerful clans of Konoha, he runs the Military Police and he is a feared and respected jōnin. The elders can go fuck themselves. Neither Mikoto nor him are making a scandal and this is not going to stain the Uchiha name more than Itachi retiring or Shisui crushing on the Nara girl who made a habit of throwing him in the nearest body of water.

Sighing, he puts down the invitation and gets up from the kotatsu. He misses the warmth immediately and longs for the spring that is late in coming. He tightens his yukata and goes looking for his future-ex-wife. He's known Mikoto for the best part of his life and doesn't regret marrying her. But he can't help but _wonder_. What would their life be if they hadn't met the expectations of the clan, and married outside of the Uchiha? Who would he be, without Mikoto, Itachi and Sasuke at his side?

He doesn't like the picture his imagination paints. But he might have stood up to the elders sooner. It's kind of embarrassing that it took him failing at his job and Hyūga Hiashi of all people to make him see Itachi and actually _look_.

Fugaku finds Mikoto in the garden, checking the tomatoes plants. Her back is turned on him but he isn't an Uchiha for nothing. He doesn't miss the tremor in her hands or how low her shoulders are. He takes a few steps and crouches next to her. He doesn't look at her, just stands there, and waits.

A moment passes before she turns his way. He's surprised to see that she's not crying. She's shaking, yes. But he actually takes a step back when he crosses her eyes.

He's never seen her look so furious before. Her lips are drawn in a snarl, and she activated her sharingan. She radiates with something akin with wickedness.

"Itachi came to see me. He told me you gave him the job at the daycare," she states, practically seething with anger.

"I did," he says, careful to keep his tone flat.

"He also told me he went to see the elders to inform them. And those motherfucking cunts stripped him down of his name and told him he was banned from Uchiha grounds until he decided to suck it up and honour his family by doing the only thing he's tolerated for. End of fucking quotation."

Fugaku doesn't realise there is an explosive kunai in his hand until Mikoto grabs one from the weapon pouch strapped to his thigh. He sees red.

"I'm going to gut them and feed them their uterus."

"Glad we're on the same page, dear husband."


	3. 3: Un tout petit bout de femme

This story now has fanart! You can find it on my tumblr (dimancheetoile) under the tag witheredflowers.

The idea for Sakura to be a very distant relative of Naruto comes from _A Lot of Fight Left_ _in Me_ by Stormwind13 who invented an Uzushio district in Konoha. Go check out their story!

* * *

As much as she would love to go barge in the elders' district and wreck havoc, Mikoto knows she has to wait for Fugaku to work his magic. That doesn't mean that she should stay idle either. But that's how the two of them had always worked: Fugaku faces the spotlights and Mikoto manoeuvres in the shadows.

Right now, her biggest concern is Itachi. The boy didn't stay after telling her what happened and she can't find him. Her leg is starting to hurt. She watches the clouds gather in the sky as the birds get quieter by the minute. The rain always wakes an aching pain that she wishes she could forget. She doesn't want her son to be caught in the storm. Mikoto needs to find him, before the humidity stops her from moving.

She is not a tracker, though. She's an assassin, like most of the Uchiha who became ANBU.

(her career in the Black Ops lasted eleven hours, but she is an assassin nonetheless.)

What she needs is an Inuzuka. A tracker team. And she knows exactly who to ask. After all, it's time she starts cashing in favours, and she really needs help.

No one asks her anything as she leaves the Uchiha District. Sometimes Mikoto is glad the incident was kept secret, locked away with the classified file in the ANBU headquarters. She would not be allowed to leave unguarded if it wasn't for how Minato handled it.

Konoha looks better than ever. Aside from minor fixes here and there, the village completely recovered from the Kyūbi attack, three years ago. The Sandaime had done a marvelous job. Her only regret is the situation with her clan. She was there, she knows what people think, what civilians think, because it always comes down to them, doesn't it? But the Uchiha have nothing to do with the attack and they suffered losses, just like everyone else.

There are whispers amongst her peers, rumors that she refuses to think are anything more than hearsay. Fugaku and her need to deal with them, when this situation is over. She doesn't want the fragile peace they have to be broken because of a couple of bitter clansmen longing for a war that became part of their life.

Her reflexion shatter when something bumps violently against her thigh. She stumbles and catches herself on a nearby wall, before looking down. There is a small child in the dirt, soothing her forehead where she hit Mikoto. She frowns, trying to pin down where she's seen the girl before. Bright blue eyes, lacking a pupil, are raising to meet hers. She shivers, failing to remember the last time Fugaku looked her in the eyes for more than a few seconds.

"Here, let me help you," she says, extending a hand to the child.

"Thank you, Uchiha-san," replies the girl with a confidence that, along with the eyes, serves as proof enough of who she is. Yamanaka aren't known for being shy.

"Ino! You okay?"

Mikoto looks behind the Yamanaka girl to find Shikaku's son and a pink-haired girl she's never seen before. Once Ino is back on her feet, her friends come to stand by her side. Shikamaru bows his head to her, but the other girl just looks confused.

"That's Uchiha Mikoto, Forehead!" Ino fails to whispers. "Say hello!"

"It's quite alright, sweetheart. I've never seen you around, who are your parents?" she asks, frowning slightly because now that she thinks of it, the girl kind of reminds her of someone...

"I'm- I am Haruno Sakura, Uchiha-san," she stutters, blushing to her roots. "Ah, sorry- I mean, my parents are Uzumaki Noroshi and Haruno Hashiru."

Mikoto freezes, staring at the girl like she just grew teeth and starting eating her own hand. It's obvious now, in the way she stands like she doesn't quite know what to do with herself, like her body and her sense of self don't match. Falcon stood like that in the Hokage office, when Minato gave them the mission. She had wondered why he wore a hood, but if Sakura had inherited his hair, then it made sense.

Mikoto suddenly feels weak. She can't look her in the eyes and her leg is __hurting__. She stumbles, takes a step back and manages to summon a smile.

"It was nice meeting you, Sakura. Ino, Shikamaru, give my regards to your families."

"Of course, Uchiha-san. Sorry for running into you!"

"It's fine, it's fine. Good day."

At this point, it's not a retreat, it's an escape. She's ashamed of herself. The incident is forgotten and basically no-one knows about it. She shouldn't be reacting like that.

Mikoto doesn't realize that her steps led her to the Hyūga compound until someone puts a hand on her shoulder. She stops breathing as a kunai appears in her palm.

"Mikoto, you need to calm down. You're frightening the children."

She's hyperventilating, and knows she is. But what she doesn't expect is to anticipate the hand leaving her shoulder because __of course__ she activated the sharingan without realizing. Of course. She turns it off and finds Hyūga Hiashi looking at her with a serene face. Well, it'll spare her the need to look for him.

"Apologies. I didn't mean to."

"Don't worry about it," he says, but she can see he never completely drops his guard. "Did you want something?"

"I was actually coming to see you. I have a favour to ask."

"Follow me."

Mikoto tries not to feel paranoid when the children eyes follow her as she falls into steps with Hiashi. She doesn't quite manage to do that. And her leg just hurts so much.

* * *

 _ _The office was dark when they were called in, the furniture barely outlined by the moon. The light disappeared a second as another shadow slipped into the office. They were three now, standing in line in front of the desk. Minato was watching them under his hat, a pleased look on his face. Falcon and Bear were the first to arrive and Weasel joined them as soon as he entered by the window.__

 _ _"Weasel, take the scroll. The details are inside. This is Bear's first mission and your role is to make sure that she is able to learn as much as possible from both you and Falcon as well as eliminating the threat. A long-range team is waiting for you on top of the Hokage mountain. You are to meet with the Sabotage Squad ten miles from Konoha, on their way to Kusa."__

 _ _It was the easiest mission they could possibly get. And didn't that smell fishy already. There was a terrorist cell from Ame aiming to annex Kusa, and they were sent to destroy it. The Sabotage Squad had already trapped the area and would give them a map of their installation before heading to Kusa. The long-range team was merely backup.__

 _ _So of course it went to shit.__

 _ _The terrorist cell had spotted the Sabotage Squad and killed them, before taking their place. The map was a trap. Everything happened at the same time. Weasel and Bear reached the area first and Weasel set off the first trap. A cloud of senbon fell on him and killed him on the spot.__

 _ _Bear avoided most of it by jumping back, a fireball coming out of her mouth to burn the last of it. The trees around her caught fire and she aimed for the edge of the area, but her foot landed on a clod and the mine hiding underneath blew off.__

 _ _She fell, a debilitating pain exploding in her leg. Her scream was ripped out of her throat as a wave of lava tried to burn through her veins. She had no memories of what happened after that.__

 _ _The report, however, tells a very different story. The false Squad was found lying in a pool of their own blood after they killed themselves using their fingernails. The rest of the terrorist cell had diligently surrendered to Falcon after they gouged out their own eyes, which they collected in a basket before giving it to the ANBU. The genjutsu didn't break off for a week and by that time, most of them had died from an infection since they refused to be treated and tried to attack everyone who came too close. To this day, how the genjutsu worked is still a mistery.__

* * *

There is a rumor in ANBU, shared in the Jōnin station and T&I. They say the Black Ops have a assassin with eyes of blood who can make you obey their every order. They say the assassin is the best asset ANBU has ever known and that they're only sent for the suicide missions. Four people know about the incident. Two of them are dead, one became a tokubetsu and the last one is the Chief of Konoha's Military Police (because this is the sort of thing the Chief is expected to know).

The rumor was never refuted, because a secret weapon is useful against enemies, as nightmare material if nothing else. The sudden dismantling of a terrorist organisation made the news and Uchiha Mikoto's retirement went completely unnoticed. After all, you can't be a shinobi from the Uchiha clan if you claim to have a too-weak-to-function sharingan, right?

Right.


	4. 4: Les quatre cents coups

Hiashi is confused.

Unfortunately, it appears that since Hizashi left his side, confused is a state in which he finds himself a little too often. However, he feels completely justified in adding very this time.

Indeed, Hiashi is very confused. Uchiha Mikoto is the last person he expected to find in his metaphorical doorstep when he went looking for Hinata. He also finds that Uchiha Mikoto on the verge of a panic attack is one of the most unsettling things he has ever seen. Almost as much as having the same woman sitting in front of him, sharing a cup of tea.

With all of this is mind, it's not so suspiring that the first thing leaving his mouth sounds a bit like this:

"I didn't sleep with your husband."

As Mikoto chokes on her tea, Hiashi finds himself looking up to the ceiling and longing for his brother with a renewed fervor.

* * *

Itachi feels hollow. The rage and hurt that filled him when the Elders stripped him of his name were short-lived. He had barely left the District when their words started gnawing a hole in his stomach. And now, he's empty. The foreign feeling he had felt when his father had signed his application is long gone.

He's on the edge of the Nara forest, with only trees in sight and behind them, the wall. There isn't many options for him as a clanless civilian. Itachi supposes that he could join ANBU again, but the mere thought leaves him nauseous. He will need to find a job without the support of the Uchiha, which will prove to be exceptionally difficult with his lack of credentials.

Or he could leave. He is of no use for most of the civilian jobs, but the Land of Fire will never frown upon a bodyguard for hire. The wall is looking more and more tempting by the minute.

That's when he hears it. At first, he mistakes the sound for children laughing, but he has a little brother and he would recognize the edge of terror anywhere. He doesn't even stop to consider, and starts running. The noise is close, a few bounds from the edge of the forest, but already in Nara territory. Itachi has a brief thought for it, before dismissing the information. There are more important things right now.

The scene he finds makes him stumble. There are five children, all about Sasuke's age. One of them is bleeding on the ground, while two others sport various small injuries. And there's a snarling kunoichi with her kunai on the fourth's throat.

Itachi is mostly unarmed these days, but he wasn't ANBU for nothing. A shuriken finds itself in the woman's eye and a second later, he is behind her, wrapping her twisted arms in wire. He knocks her out and steps closer to the kids. Now that he has time to look, he recognizes most of them.

There's the Nara heir (not suspiring, considering where they are), a deep cut following his eyebrow and splinters in his forearms. The blond one must be a Yamanaka, and she too is covered in small chips of wood. One kid is unconscious, but the red markings on his cheeks are telling. He doesn't know the girl who was taken hostage, but he remembers a tokujo with pink hair like hers. And then, there's the bleeding one. She looks familiar, and then she opens her moon-like eyes and Itachi blanches.

He quickly makes two clones before kneeling next to the Hyūga. He's not even close to being a medic, but the deep wound on the girl's shoulder is obvious. Itachi picks her up, before facing the other children.

"I'm taking her to the hospital and I'll send an ANBU your way as soon as I get out of the forest. This clone will stay with you, and the other one will guard the woman. How did Inuzuka-kun get hurt?"

"She sent an explosive tag and he knocked his head on the tree,", answered somewhat calmly the Nara. Itachi frowns, because that can't be good, but he doesn't think moving him would be a good idea.

"Alright. The ANBU will be here soon."

He immediately starts running and in a matter of minutes, he's back in the village. He quickly spots the shadow on a nearby roof and gestures for them to come down. He's grateful to recognize Hound and quickly signs him the situation. Hound snaps to attention when he figures out who Itachi once was and nods promptly before rushing to the forest.

As soon as Hound disappears, Itachi starts running again. The girl is whimpering quietly in his arms and he knows he's way out of his depths. The hospital is barely visible when he hears a desperate cry behind him. Something comes barreling into him and he wavers, almost falling on one knee. He's suddenly blinded by a wave of wild brown hair and he starts coughing when he accidentally inhale a strand or twenty. And that's when his world stops making sense.

Because that can't be his mother in Inuzuka Tsume's arms, a very dignified pout on her lips. That just can't be the Hyūga Clan Head with a darkening nose matching his mother's bloody knuckles. The same Clan Head whose hair is in Itachi's mouth.

His life was way simpler when all he had to deal with was his father spitting coffee on Sasuke's toys.

* * *

They're an interesting lot, all of them in the waiting room. Mikoto is discussing something with her son in a corner, the boy's shirt still covered in Hinata's drying blood. His precious daughter's blood. It takes all he has not to start snarling like he's Tsume's mutt.

He knows their security is weakened since the Kyūbi attack, but this? This is sheer incompetence. T&I willingly set free a Konoha nukenin, hoping she would lead them to her partner. Instead, she found five children, including three Clan heir. If he wasn't so emotionally exhausted, Hiashi would be livid.

As it is, he got punched in the face because he apparently has a brain-to-mouth filter on strike today, successfully tracked down the Uchiha heir after failing to track down his own, consequentially found his heir and ended up in the hospital. With a bloody nose. And a crying pink-haired child on his lap.

(he's trying to pretend like he doesn't hear Tsume snickering where she's waiting for Kiba to wake up)

Admittedly, the girl is cute and seeing as she was the only one without her parents to comfort her after she was taken hostage by a Konoha nukenin, what the fuck T&I Hiashi feels like he can give her that much. He also, selfishly, draws comfort from the gesture, since his own daughter is being cared for in a room he's not allowed in.

He can't comprehend the Sandaime, recently. His obvious emotional involvement in the Kumo incident aside, he rationally thinks it could have been handled a lot better. And Konoha might be the nice village, but letting such an outrage go without taking action if only to make a statement? It makes them look weak, a position which they can't afford right now. They're barely recovering from Minato's passing and the end of the Third War still has lingering effects on the village. Sarutobi made a bad move.

Now, Hiashi isn't saying that T&I's decision is entirely on the Sandaime. But if that's the kind of behaviour he condones, how can he expect his shinobi to trust him? How can Hiashi, Tsume or Shikaku trust him, when their kid was threatened by a direct consequence of his poor decision making?

The sudden silence in the waiting room has him turning a sharp look to the door. He stiffens instantly and carefully lift the girl from his knees before getting up. He notices Tsume and Mikoto falling into step beside him but doesn't say a word as he makes his way to the other side of the room. He stops before the woman who just entered and respectfully bows his head. She returns the gesture, but her eyes are elsewhere.

Her green eyes lighten up when she sees the girl and, with no regard whatsoever for properness, she lifts the hem of her traditional kimono and starts running. Hiashi's brain breaks a little after she sits cross-legged on the floor so that the girl can crawl into her arms, her little legs around the woman's waist.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm watching Mito-sama's great-niece on the floor getting snot in her hair," whispers Tsume in his ear.

"I believe we are," observes Mikoto in a dead tone.

"Alright, just checking."

"Kaa-san, I think I need to sleep. Right now," croaks Itachi.

Uzumaki Noroshi rises like the queen she might as well be, the girl still in her arms.

"I understand you no longer are a shinobi, Uchiha-kun?" she states more than she asks.

"That's correct, Uzumaki-sama."

She lets the girl down and hides her hands in her immaculate sleeves, before bowing far lower than her rank asks of her. Her head is still down when she continues:

"My clan is in your debt. If you ever find yourself in need of assistance, the Uzumaki and every Uzushio civilian will be glad to lend you their help."

"T-thank you."

"Of course. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get my daughter home. Hyga-san, I believe I will see you on Friday?"

"I look forward to it."

Noroshi disappears behind the door and Hiashi does his best to ignore the pain in his shin where his best friend is kicking him.

"You invited Uzumaki Noroshi to the party and didn't tell us? Do you want this to end in civil war?"

Kami-sama, does he miss Hizashi and Sakumo.


End file.
